President Obama promises ‘appropriate action’ against officials who authorized Operation Fast and Furious

President Barack Obama said appropriate action would be taken against those who authorized Operation Fast and Furious. (AP Photo)

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would not comment on the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the so-called fast and furious gun-running case, but did promise swift action when the case is closed.

Obama said “appropriate action will be taken” against those who authorized the deadly Operation Fast and Furious, during a press conference in the White House’s East Room.

﻿”[Attorney General Eric Holder] has made clear that he certainly would not have ordered gun-running to be able to pass through in to Mexico. I’m not going to comment on an ongoing investigation,” Obama said. “I’ve made very clear my views that it would not be an appropriate step by the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and we’ve got to find out how that happened.”

Republicans in Congress led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, have pounded ATF and Justice Department officials over Operation Fast and Furious, in which ATF agents in Phoenix were instructed to observe loads of U.S.-purchased weapons destined for Mexican drug cartels instead of interdicting them last year.

The aim was to reach beyond the low-level “straw purchasers’’ of the weapons and build a complex case against traffickers and their weapons brokers.

But the weapons – estimates run as high as 2,500 – eventually reached Mexican cartels and two of them were recovered in December at the site in Southern Arizona where smugglers had killed Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

The president also urged for additional border and immigration reform Wednesday, saying the country has a responsibility to live up to its legacy as a nation of both laws and immigrants.

“We need comprehensive immigration reform. We’ve got to have a system that makes sure that we uphold our tradition as a nation of laws, but also that we uphold our tradition as a nation of immigrants,” Obama said. “That means tough border security, going after employers that are illegally hiring and exploiting workers.”